Shingles

ATTN: Ronnieboy
There are definite problems with the health care industry, high costs of prescription drugs are just the tip of the iceberg.

1) You didn't mention if you got the 1gm or 500mg tablets.
They were 1 gram & from walgreens.

2) You don't have to get the full amount that the prescriber wrote.
That's interesting. I never knew you had that choice.
Wouldn't the doctor get upset with you if you did that ?
Isn't that sort of like second-guessing him or her ?
 
kramer said:
You can also take generic Aciclovir instead of Valacyclovir. You just have to take it more often (like 5x daily instead of 3x) because your body doesn't absorb it as well (otherwise same thing as Valacyclovir as Valacyclovir turns into Aciclovir after absorbtion). Here in the Philippines where I live, Aciclovir is a cheap over the counter medicine, so I was able to buy it and use it within the hour of my shingles self-diagnosis at 11 PM one evening after a quick trip to the drugstore.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input
 
ownyourfuture said:
.......That's interesting. I never knew you had that choice.Wouldn't the doctor get upset with you if you did that ? Isn't that sort of like second-guessing him or her ?
Click to expand...
Most doctors have no idea what anything costs. I've found it worthwhile to double check everything - can a generic be substituted, can a different lab be used, do I need surgery or can physical therapy accomplish the same end result? Like financial advice, no one cares about you as much as you.
 
Ronnieboy said:
Two comments, 1) Always shop around for prescription prices. Just call two or three pharmacies in the area to get the price of the rx, you would be surprised at the price differences. You didn't mention if you got the 1gm or 500mg tablets of Valacyclovir but 90 of the 1gm at Costco is $104, cash price. https://www.costco.com/pharmacy/dru...gName=Valacyclovir&drugSearch=alphaDrugSearch
Click to expand...
The problem with calling around is that the first thing they do is ask you for your insurance information, then they all use the same system to look-up the price. So you get the same price no matter where you call. If you say "cash price" to them when you call, you get a horrifically inflated price. So I usually use goodrx.com coupons/codes. The non-zip code (non-location based) price for 90@1g is showing $81 at a mail order place called "Health Warehouse", and less than $95 at several other places "with free coupon". I've used those coupons, and they work, usually. Only one place, Wallyworld, did they say they didn't take the coupons. But the district manager I called said they should take the coupons. Whatever...I went elsewhere and the coupon worked.
 
travelover said:
Most doctors have no idea what anything costs. I've found it worthwhile to double check everything - can a generic be substituted, can a different lab be used, do I need surgery or can physical therapy accomplish the same end result? Like financial advice, no one cares about you as much as you.
Click to expand...

Sounds like good advice.
Thanks
 
a. I really hope you have fully recovered from your shingles outbreak and that your eyes weren't affected. Really scary--I would have followed the doctor's orders too. I have had a specialist rescind the primary caregiver's orders but that's why we go to specialists.
b. Most doctors I use like an involved patient so I wouldn't worry that yours won't like your questioning. You don't seem to be a shy person :) (I mean that in a good way--I am shy but even I manage to speak up to my docs)
c. Yes to the above suggestions about breaking up an expensive prescription. Or at least asking if there is a generic.
d. I can almost see Walgreens from my house but we never get prescriptions filled there. Are you tied to it?
 
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Bestwifeever said:
a. I really hope you have fully recovered from your shingles outbreak and that your eyes weren't affected. Really scary--I would have followed the doctor's orders too. I have had a specialist rescind the primary caregiver's orders but that's why we go to specialists.
b. Most doctors I use like an involved patient so I wouldn't worry that yours won't like your questioning. You don't seem to be a shy person :) (I mean that in a good way--I am shy but even I manage to speak up to my docs)
c. Yes to the above suggestions about breaking up an expensive prescription. Or at least asking if there is a generic.
d. I can almost see Walgreens from my house but we never get prescriptions filled there. Are you tied to it?
Click to expand...

I am completely recovered, & thanks for asking.

I'm not sure about your question concerning myself being tied to Walgreens ?
I have been very fortunate with my health, & therefore have had very few experiences with prescription drugs.

In the future, I'll ask more questions.
 
Has anyone tried vitamin C for shingles? There are published papers in the old literature (1930s and 40s) showing dramatic improvement. I don't have access to the original sources.

There was a recent study in Germany: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3560828/ . In this study they gave IV sodium ascorbate, generally around 10g, 2-4 times per week for the first 2 weeks. They saw a substantial improvement in symptoms (pain and lesions) despite the moderate doses. Vitamin C seemed to be substantially more effective than standard treatment.

If you can't get IV C, you could take sodium ascorbate orally to bowel tolerance. You would need to spread it out over the day in multiple doses. It's cheap. I plan to try this myself if I ever get shingles.

I found a reference to using B12 with C and E for shingles (on livestrong.com), but no primary sources. Again, very cheap and not likely to be negative side effects.
 
msieweke said:
Has anyone tried vitamin C for shingles? There are published papers in the old literature (1930s and 40s) showing dramatic improvement. I don't have access to the original sources.

There was a recent study in Germany: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3560828/ . In this study they gave IV sodium ascorbate, generally around 10g, 2-4 times per week for the first 2 weeks. They saw a substantial improvement in symptoms (pain and lesions) despite the moderate doses. Vitamin C seemed to be substantially more effective than standard treatment.

If you can't get IV C, you could take sodium ascorbate orally to bowel tolerance. You would need to spread it out over the day in multiple doses. It's cheap. I plan to try this myself if I ever get shingles.

I found a reference to using B12 with C and E for shingles (on livestrong.com), but no primary sources. Again, very cheap and not likely to be negative side effects.
Click to expand...

There was no control group in that small study. The most that can be said is that it's promising and that a blinded randomized controlled study may be warranted.

By the way, welcome to the forum. Perhaps you would like to go ov to the Hi, I am..... thread and introduce yourself.
 
Meadbh said:
There was no control group in that small study. The most that can be said is that it's promising and that a blinded randomized controlled study may be warranted.
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Wasn't shingles one of the multitude of ailments that Linus Pauling claimed could be cured/alleviated by vitamin 'C'?
 
Nemo2 said:
I'm not sure that any of Pauling's claims were eventually validated.
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I'm pretty sure that much of his work on the structure of proteins was validated and there were those two Nobel prizes. It's true that his ideas on vitamins and supplements never caught on but he definitely a brilliant scientist and did some ground breaking work.

And agree with Meadbh, the vitamin C study cited is of low quality. In the area of medical therapeutics, blinding, a control group and randomization are the standard.
 
6miths said:
I'm pretty sure that much of his work on the structure of proteins was validated and there were those two Nobel prizes. It's true that his ideas on vitamins and supplements never caught on but he definitely a brilliant scientist and did some ground breaking work.

And agree with Meadbh, the vitamin C study cited is of low quality. In the area of medical therapeutics, blinding, a control group and randomization are the standard.
Click to expand...

I should have specified vitamin 'C' in the 'validation' post above...mea culpa.

(I recall, several lifetimes ago, taking 'massive doses in an attempt to avoid catching a common cold...it didn't work for me, and IIRC, later thought was that it likely wouldn't work for anyone......but, as I say, it was long, long, ago.....but not so far away.)
 
ownyourfuture said:
...

I'm not sure about your question concerning myself being tied to Walgreens ?
I have been very fortunate with my health, & therefore have had very few experiences with prescription drugs....
Click to expand...

Our old megacorp healthcare plan specified the pharmacy we had to use (plus we had to use a mail order pharmacy for long-term prescriptions), so we were "tied" to that one until we aged into Medicare. Like you, I have not had many drugs prescribed, but DH takes a couple of random things that he now gets filled at Walmart now for practically pennies, it seems. So I just wondered if you have more pharmacy choices available to you than Walgreens--for the very occasional prescription, it is probably not material.
 
When I had a terrible case of shingles and post shingles nerve pain(took me 2 years to recover, still have some pain), I tried almost everything. Two things that
did help the nerve pain once the shingles blisters healed (which took a couple of months) were acupuncture and a TENS machine placed on the other side of my spine (the side that did not have the blisters).

Jo Ann
 
Nemo2 said:
I should have specified vitamin 'C' in the 'validation' post above...mea culpa.

(I recall, several lifetimes ago, taking 'massive doses in an attempt to avoid catching a common cold...it didn't work for me, and IIRC, later thought was that it likely wouldn't work for anyone......but, as I say, it was long, long, ago.....but not so far away.)
Click to expand...

Yes although he was a brilliant scientist, he probably contributed to boosting the multi-billion dollar scam that is the supplement industry.
 
They're baaaaack..............5-6 days ago my left eye I was somewhat bloodshot, (the same eye where the shingles were* encroaching on the cornea).....I initially halfway dismissed it as an allergy/being in a draft/dry eye, etc.......saw the eye doctor again yesterday, and it's the shingles causing inflammation.

So, I'm on two sets of drops, (with a prescription for five repeats of each) - one, I take every two waking hours, the other every twelve hours.

See the doc again tomorrow afternoon. Sheesh!


(*Do you say shingles was or shingles were?)
 
Nemo, that is terrible. I am so sorry. I hope it heals quickly with no damage to your eye. My husband went through this and it is not fun.
 
Nemo2 said:
the same eye where the shingles were*
…
(*Do you say shingles was or shingles were?)
Click to expand...

Neither. You gracefully avoid the potential grammatical faux pas by saying "where shingles had previously been."
 
Bummer. I hope you get through this attack without eye damage.
 
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